HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM?

A healthy nervous system is one that responds dynamically to stressful events, easily returning to a state of equanimity afterwards. Wild animals regularly have to deal with threatening situations, but they soon return to normal once the threat has passed. They do this by instinctively using movement to discharge the nervous energy that was built up.

We humans, however, have a tendency to suppress our instinctive responses to stress.

For humans, it is quite common for nervous energy to get ‘trapped’ in the body. This causes the nervous system to lose its ability to regulate itself and to maintain homeostasis. We call this trauma (from the Greek word ‘wound’).

Sources of trauma include accidents and falls, serious illness, medical and dental procedures, sudden loss of a loved one, exposure to violence, childhood neglect or abuse. It is important to understand that trauma is not in the stressful event, but in how the nervous system is affected by the event.

ABOUT SUSIE SCOTT

Susie Scott is an Advanced Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), a listed member of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (SETI) international directory, the Somatic Experiencing Association UK (SEA UK) and International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (ITAAP). Susie is highly trained by Dr Peter Levine in working with parasympathetic freeze states, surgical trauma, coma, anaesthesia, near death states, PTSD and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In a Somatic Experiencing session, we track sensations that arise in the body, and through this, find where trauma is trapped in the nervous system. By alternating between engaging with the trauma, and returning to a grounded safe space, we can create a larger container for mind-body experience. This increases our resilience, and brings our social engagement system back online.